Sunday, January 11, 2009

WKRG Channel 5 in Mobile has published a story about what appears to have been a tornado in the town of McIntosh in Washington County, Alabama. See posts from yesterday's storms below. I have not heard any confirmation yet from the NWS Mobile.

ON SATURDAY AFTERNOON AT ~505 PM...AN EF-1 TORNADO DEVELOPED VERYNEAR THE INTERSECTION OF TOPTON ROAD AND U.S. HWY 43. THE EXACTBEGINNING OF THE DAMAGE PATH WAS JUST YARDS FROM WHERE BOYKINBOULEVARD AND GEIGY ROAD MEET. THE DAMAGE PATH ENDED NEAR THE CIBAPLANT. TWO EYEWITNESSES AT THE CIBA PLANT HEARD THE TORNADO INADVANCE AND THEN WITNESSED THE TORNADO AS IT MOVED THROUGH THEIRLOCATION. FROM THE DAMAGE INDICATORS OBSERVED DURING THE SURVEY,THE HIGHEST WIND SPEED RATING OF 104 MPH WAS ASSIGNED DUE TO THEOBSERVATION OF NUMEROUS PINE TREES WHOSE TRUNKS WERE SNAPPED. EF-1TORNADO WIND SPEEDS RANGE FROM 86-110 MPH...SO THIS IS CLOSER TO THEUPPER END OF THE RANGE.

DAMAGE INFORMATION: NUMEROUS LARGE PINE TREES WERE SNAPPED AT THEIRBASES ALONG THE ENTIRE PATH AND EXTENSIVE ROOF DAMAGE WAS OBSERVEDTO SINGLE FAMILY RESIDENCE HOMES. ONE HOME`S CARPORT WAS COMPLETELYDESTROYED WITH APPROXIMATELY HALF OF ITS ROOF DECK MISSING. THISPARTICULAR RESIDENCE PROVIDED EXCELLENT GROUND TRUTH OF THECONVERGING WINDS ASSOCIATED WITH THE TORNADO AS IT MOVED THROUGHTHIS LOCATION.

THE CIBA PLANT EXPERIENCED DAMAGE TO SEVERAL OF ITS BUILDING`SROOFS (MAINLY THE LIGHT METAL AWNINGS). HIGH WINDS ALSO BLEW THROUGHTHE GLASS DOOR ENTRY-WAYS OF SEVERAL BUILDINGS. ALSO...THE WINDSBLEW OUT THE REAR WINDSHIELDS OUT OF AN ENTIRE ROW OF PICKUP TRUCKS.ONE PICKUP TRUCK IN THE PARKING LOT WAS FLIPPED UPSIDE DOWN ANDEXTENSIVE TREE DAMAGE OCCURRED NEAR THE ENTRANCE TO THE PLANT.

A WEB PAGE IS CURRENTLY BEING ASSEMBLED THAT WILL CONTAIN DAMAGEPHOTOS...A GRAPHICAL DAMAGE PATH AND RADAR DATA. PLEASE SEE:HTTP://WW.SRH.NOAA.GOV/MOB.

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